OUR VIEW: Cuomo wants public trust? Push reforms

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has expressed concern that lingering scandals in Albany are causing people to lose faith in the state Legislature. There's one way Cuomo can address that head-on: Make reform a key part of the 2014 agenda when he delivers his State of the State message today.

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Uticaod

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Posted Jan. 8, 2014 at 3:15 AM

Posted Jan. 8, 2014 at 3:15 AM

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has expressed concern that lingering scandals in Albany are causing people to lose faith in the state Legislature. There's one way Cuomo can address that head-on: Make reform a key part of the 2014 agenda when he delivers his State of the State message today.

Cuomo said Monday that trust in the Legislature is eroding because of bad acts by lawmakers. He's right. The latest scandal: Accusations by former aides to Buffalo-area Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak who say he harassed them so severely that they had to quit. In recent years there have been a number of lawmakers in both the Assembly and the state Senate charged after federal public corruption investigations.

If Cuomo is serious about restoring public trust, he should use his office's extensive powers to push reforms. That can begin with campaign finance laws that have not seen any major changes since the 1970s and do little more than empower incumbents and discourage challengers.

As for ethics, though laws have been made, they are essentially useless, especially with oversight by a board (the so-called Joint Commission on Public Integrity) that falls short of transparency or accountability.